It's the second incident like it in St. Paul in less than six months. Last fall, surveillance cameras at a BP station on Lexington captured some 20 kids coming into the store at the same time. They stole merchandise and one of them assaulted the clerk on the way out.

Police worry about this kind of mob behavior because there have been similar incidents in other cities.

As for the incident at the Wabasha Holiday, investigators say surveillance images will help them identify mob members. They cited at least 20 of them for curfew violations that night, but more serious charges are possible with the kind of mob mentality police say could get even more dangerous for both workers and customers.

"The inclination might be to try to stop it. We don't want people to do that. We want store employees to be witnesses to shoplifting, not victims of assault," says Skoogman.

The mob robbery at the Holiday store happened just before a shooting incident down the street where two people were injured. St. Paul police are looking into whether the two cases are connected.